Fourth-quarter 2024 net income at W.R. Berkley Corp. jumped 45 percent compared to a year ago to about $576 million.

For the year, the Greenwich, Conn.-based commercial insurer said it booked record income of about $1.8 billion compared to about $1.4 billion for 2023. Underwriting income for 2024 was also a record at about $1.1 billion, the company said.

Net premiums written in W.R. Berkley’s insurance segment were about $2.6 billion in Q4 2024, up from about $2.4 billion in Q4 2023. The combined ratio for the last quarter worsened 1.1 points to 90.5 compared to the same period a year ago.

W.R. Berkley said average rate increases excluding workers compensation were about 7.7 percent for Q4 and 7.9 percent for the year.

Catastrophe losses in insurance for the quarter were up – $35.6 million this year compared to $20.4 million in Q4 last year. Losses for the insurer’s reinsurance and monoline excess business were nearly $44 million in Q4 compared to $11.6 million last year during the same time.

The insurer’s consolidated combined ratio for the year was 90.3 or 0.6 points higher than 2023.